In the long history of Indian cinema there have been very few film directors who could be called as being possessed of genius minds. Dada Sahib Phalke was in that realm. He founded the film industry in India, stamping his image in all departments of film making. Satyajit Ray was another person. SS Vasan, in […]
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Sharmila Tagore ‘From the east to western Ind, No jewel is like Rosalind. Her worth, being mounted on the wind, Through all the world bears Rosalind. All the pictures fairest lined Are but black to Rosalind, Let no face be kept in mind But the fair Rosalind’ –Shakespeare, As You Like It (Act III, scene […]
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It is nine months now since the curtains were called on a thriving Sandalwood industry that had to shut shop when Corona came calling. The pandemic has had the entire world under its virulent tentacles, spreading dread and death, virtually putting an end to public entertainment in its conventional and traditional sense; theatres and multiplexes […]
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Here once was a colossus cultural phenomenon nonpareil — SPB — a peerless performer par excellence whose magical, mellow voice saw legions of listeners drawn like bees to a honeycomb, as if a Pied Piper has cast a spell upon them to transport them to an Elysian world. Like many of his ilk in his time, […]
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Aparna Sen Where the bee sucks, There suck I; In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry; On the Bat’s back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily , merrily shall I live now, Under the blossom That hangs on the bough. -The Tempest, Act V, Scene I With […]
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When renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz watched Gaman (1978), he was overcome by so many emotions that it was nearly impossible not to say anything about it. He wrote a letter to Muzaffar Ali, the 34 year-old adman who had directed the film. Faiz wrote, “Gaman is a poem in visuals. Its tragic lyricism and […]
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Dev Anand was Dorian Gray, Peter Pan and matinee idol all rolled into one. There may only be a handful of actors or filmmakers anywhere in the world whose career spanned 7 decades. Dev Saab, as he is still remembered, was one of the most positive persons I have ever met. His effervescent charm, his […]
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A perspective peek at the nonet of films that have pitchforked Mysskin into the exalted realm of Kollywood’s cinematic sense Straddling the Kollywood movie marquee in the last dozen plus years like a lodestar among his peers, Tamil film director Mysskin, nee Shanmugha Raja, since his trailblazing debut in 2006 with Chithiram Pesuthadi, has […]
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Pandemic pummels cinema into existential vortex Don’t open the pod bay doors, Hal. We need social distancing. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Nothing can be alarmingly apocryphal than the above lines from the nearly four decade old film. ‘Social Distancing’ has become the new lingua franca of human transaction in this pandemic times […]
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Film: Tape 39 | presently streaming on Mubi Director: Amit Dutta The cinematograph can be defined as a writing with movements and sound. The essential problematic of the cinematograph lies precisely within this question—how can the cinematograph move beyond the manifest reality? This manifest reality is the apparent space and time represented before the […]
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